Leadership contests in a remote Kurdish tribe have been thrown into disarray by the introduction of the ‘alternative goat’ system. ‘It used to be so simple,’ said Amed, a returning officer. ‘The elders of a village would each put their best goat forward into a race, and the winning owner would lead the village and represent it at tribal level for the next five years. This first past the post system had its imperfections, but at least it produced a clear winner.’